They’re back! The proposed Deerfield Parkway apartment complex in Milton has resurfaced. If you’ll remember back about a year ago the city narrowly rejected a request from Crescent Resources to build a new complex on Deerfield Parkway. The developer sued Milton arguing that the city was violating the Georgia Fair Housing Act by rejecting affordable housing.

Since that time Milton created a form-based zoning code in the Deerfield area. The judge hearing the lawsuit remanded the case back to Milton so that the developer could reapply for the zoning under the new rules.

This case will be interesting to watch. The argument was made in court that the developer wanted to build lower-end apartments. Will Crescent make this pitch to Milton, or will they come with a high-end product? We talked about this double standard last year. It’s all starting to play out now.

And back in Alpharetta… Tonight that city’s Council will consider creating something akin to a neighborhood watch program for apartment complexes. Traditional programs like this don’t work in apartments so law enforcement has to get a little creative. It’s a good program though. But remember, apartment opponents are unreasonable when they say apartments invite crime, right?

And while not technically apartments (yet), there’s another interesting nugget on Council’s agenda tonight. Council will begin discussing developer qualifications for the City Center project. This is for the four sections that will be privately developed.

Up until this point, the city has never mentioned the word “residential” with regard to their City Center project. They’ve tip toed around it but the word has not appeared in a single document or discussion – until now. I predicted the city would wait until after the election for this topic. With nearly everyone running unopposed, it’s now safe to have this conversation out loud in city hall. Bring on the high density residential!

4 Responses to “Apartments, apartments, apartments”

Considering that Milton rezoned a small parcel of land at Hopewell and Vaughan from AG-1 to housing, and Beazer Homes is currently wreaking havoc on the land to squeeze in 24 homes in such a tiny sliver, I wouldn’t be surprised if those apartments do get the go-ahead.

I am not opposed to the idea of fair housing, but when a builder with ties to the city (the Beazer rep has been appointed to one of the city’s commissions) can swoop in and get a parcel rezoned to dense housing after the Milton Planning Commission opposed it and Fulton Schools said it could not handle the extra students AND it was shown the development would lose tax money over time, it looks like Milton is fair game for anything. Just too bad all of the elected officials are running unopposed.

I love how developers are crying “affordable” housing. As if they really car about the poor? Pull-ease. Anyway, not to sound harsh, but the truth is middle and upper middle class people work to get to that class so they don’t have to live around poor people. When looking for a home, I purposely stayed away from roswell because they have too many apartments and it looks kinda of depressing. The reality is homeowners take more pride in their community than renters and it makes for a nicer community. Developers can bring lower income to an area but all it does is push the middle class out to another area. It’s just human nature. At the end of the day people want he best for their kids, so its parental instinct to live in areas that are well maintained with high home ownership and good schools. If people want affordable apartments, just go a few blocks down to roswell.